Wyatt's Moon Dog Project.

GoldenMotor.com

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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My friend Wyatt is 14 and is the son of my good friend Jeff, (we go way back). Jeff's got a Whizzer that I've been storing in pieces for about 25 years. I'll start that thread later. Anyway, Wyatt got interested in a motorbike so I gave him an old beat up Kulana Moon Dog and promised to sell him one of my left over Chinese motor kits and help him with the build. He wanted a regular one-speed cruiser so we stripped it down and got rid of the hand brakes and gears. Then his dad shaved all the brake and cable mounts off and had it powder coated a nice green. I laced a Shimano coaster hub into the rear with heavy spokes and rounded up a moped front drum. As soon as I fab a brake plate bracket to attach to the forks, then I'll lace it into the front rim with heavy spokes. That's where we're at right now but Wyatt has a lot of ideas about the way he wants the rest of the bike to look. Meanwhile a guy Jeff works with sell's Jeff his motorized cruiser and we'll be getting it running soon. That makes seven or eight bikes I'm working on now. Got to keep busy.









 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
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northeastern Minnesota
Hey Wyatt,
Welcome to the forum. Lucky you having a cool project and the help of msrfan to make it happen right. Listen closely as you can learn a lot from this guy... one of the best teachers you'll ever have. Take notes; there will be a quiz.
SB
 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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Southern California
OOPS! We got a little ahead of ourselves on the powder coating and didn't provide a welded nub for the brake plate. So a couple hours of fab work yielded a usable clamp set-up.





 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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I got the front wheel all laced up with heavy spokes and painted. Wyatt's picking up some tires and dealing with opening up the sprocket to fit over the coaster brake dust shield. If the brake arm hits the bolt heads, I countersink the holes and use flush screws instead of distorting the arm. I told him about hub mounted sprocket holders, but this is a budget build. He may also purchase one of my extra moped fuel tanks, depending on how it looks. Got to be better than the Chinese tank. More pics to come soon.
 

msrfan

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Sep 17, 2010
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Wyatt brought his bike over today and we fit the gas tank to the frame and began installing the engine. Once I make a custom rear mount, it should bolt in nicely. It shouldn't take too long to finish and be on the road.





 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
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northeastern Minnesota
If I were Wyatt I'd be getting pretty excited about now. Can you imagine being twelve or thirteen again and some kind elders were making you a motor bike? A cool motorbike!!!? This is the stuff a boy's dreams are made of. In another time and place a boy dreamed of his first pony, riding free with the wind in his hair. Woohoo!
SB
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
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Spiffy.
But does the kid know the rules of road?
Mixing with traffic at high speeds with no experience driving a car or the rules is not really wise in my book.
 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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Southern California
Spiffy.
But does the kid know the rules of road?
Mixing with traffic at high speeds with no experience driving a car or the rules is not really wise in my book.
No yet, but he has lots of dirt bike experience on and off the track and his dad is very involved with this project. Pop owns a Whizzer and is very protective of his boys, so together we'll make sure he learns the rules and never goes out without us until he's old enough. His motorcycling experience will make riding the Moon Dog a lot easier so he can watch the road once the controls become second nature.
 

KCvale

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2010
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Phoenix,AZ
Good plan.
Making sure the operating controls are second nature is important, it's playing in traffic that is the hard part.
Heck, some people never learn that as adults.
 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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Southern California
Wyatt appreciates all the work and I'm trying to teach him something new each time we have a work session. Sunday I got him off his media device long enough to have him thread some holes to mount his gas tank and told him about the different types of taps. Next he's going to learn weights and measures. He has some experience with dirt bike fuel/oil ratios but I haven't asked him how many quarts in a gallon yet. Every new employee I hired when I was in auto parts got asked that question and 99% had no clue.
 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
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Southern California
Wyatt and his dad stopped by today and we installed the motor. Still need to brace the muffler, run cables, plumb the tank to carb, fit the chain and make an idler support. Won't be long before he's cruising the neighborhood.







 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
I applaud your efforts and getting a young man to appreciate the finer points of mechanics. It sounds as if he will do fine with you and his father close by but I noticed your comment about fuel/oil ratios. Some will recall a thread I did a couple of years ago about building a bike for my 14 year old nephew. I felt confident that I had drilled into him the importance of mixing his fuel but to my dismay he ran it without oil and ruined a very nice little engine within weeks of getting the bike.

Make sure Wyatt has a good grasp of what is required when running a 2 stroke. Maybe a little schooling on why it is important?

A video of his first ride would be fun to watch. If possible please share it here or in the video section.

Tom
 

msrfan

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2010
1,808
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63
Southern California
Okay, back on the Moondog. We scrapped the tensioner and rag mounted rear sprocket in favor of a moped drum with sprocket attached. I added a brake stay and axle adjusters.





Then I made a muffler hanger.





I added a bobbed rear fender. Still need to install a double brake lever and cable, front fender, wiring loom, painted fuel tank, cable clamps, stickers, chain guard and bar mounted mirror.




Wyatt's getting excited to take it to Donut Derelicts. More photos when it's finished.